Ambassador Spratlen Meets With Doctors and Nurses at Kashkadarya Regional Tuberculosis Hospital in Kitab District

Kitab District, Kashkadarya Region, Uzbekistan – The United States Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Pamela L. Spratlen, today toured Kashkadarya Regional Tuberculosis (TB) Hospital in Kitab District, Kashkadarya, Uzbekistan. This is the second time Ambassador Spratlen’s has visited a TB healthcare facility in this region in the last six months. She was last here on March 24 to observe World TB Day at the Regional TB Dispensary in Karshi.

Since 2015, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has supported the Uzbekistan Ministry of Health and the Center of TB and Pulmonology in its efforts to stop the spread of TB. Working in in four regions of Uzbekistan, USAID has helped to improve access to and the quality of TB prevention and care.

In Kitab, USAID has provided training for the District Regional TB Hospital doctors, nurses, and laboratory staff in a number of areas, including infection control to prevent hospital transmission of TB; rapid TB testing technology for accurate and prompt TB diagnosis; and patient-centered treatment of TB and its multiple drug resistant forms. The Kitab District Regional TB Hospital is the only medical facility in the Kashkadarya region where patients with MDR-TB can be successfully treated without having to travel to Tashkent for a lengthy hospital stay.

During the visit, Ambassador Spratlen toured the hospital and met with a group of USAID-trained doctors who consult together on difficult-to-treat TB and drug resistant cases. She also met with nurses who support and encourage patients to stay in and complete TB treatment.

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USAID supports the Republic of Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Health in implementing the National TB Program by providing more effective and accessible TB prevention, diagnosis, and treatment for all, including vulnerable populations. The main objective of the five-year, $7.6 million USAID TB Control Program is to reduce the burden of tuberculosis in Uzbekistan and prevent multidrug-resistant forms of the disease. The program covers a wide range of activities, including training health care workers to strengthen the health system; improving interagency coordination and cooperation; and increasing access to TB diagnosis and treatment.